


Punches, Ropes and Hackers

by WhoWhatWhereWhy



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur is a repressed fuck no surprise there, F/M, Gwen is the sweetest, Leverage AU, Lust at First Sight, M/M, Merlin and Arthur are idiots, also it might be sappy af but im in a mood, gwaine is annoying but you love him, its a little sad at bits, its happy at others, merlin deserves the world, morgana is fucking amazing, my heart belongs to Lancelot and his self-sacrificing ass, this is the most plot I've ever planned out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 21:36:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoWhatWhereWhy/pseuds/WhoWhatWhereWhy
Summary: Arthur was convinced by Morgana to help out in a heist and it changed his life in ways he could never have predicted. He meets a truly mismatch group of people that grow to become his family and, among the chaos, he finally feels like he belongs.AKA: What happens when I go on a 3 day bender doing nothing but watch all 5 seasons of Leverage and read Merthur fics





	Punches, Ropes and Hackers

“What’s the plan?” Arthur asked, keeping his back rigid and his hands firmly grasped to his sides. He was calling in every power pose he knew to threaten the people surrounding him.

The woman, or rather girl, to his left was smiling and swaying side to side, her skinny limbs flailing around aimlessly. She looked the perfect picture of innocence with her curly hair up in a structured messy bun and big goofy smile that reminded Arthur of a child. Still, there was something in her eyes that betrayed her, a little something that he’d only ever seen in soldiers and Morgana. Needless to say, Arthur was on high alert.

The guy to his right annoyed him more than anything else, with his coy looks and endless smirks. When they’d first set eyes on each other, the man had looked Arthur up and down and bit his lip appreciatively, something that made the former soldier want to punch him. Arthur never did like being starred at for too long, always made him uncomfortable and was a potential trigger for violence.

In front of him was Morgana, in all her glory. She was pacing around, hands behind her back, whistling a tune no one knew. Her black hair was in a loose braid and her makeup could rival the celebrities at the Red Carpet and Arthur wondered for the umpteenth time how his sister had convinced him to help her in this heist.

“Arthur, would you calm down? We’re still waiting for Merlin, he’s usually the one that gives the presentation of the job,” she shushed him while checking her phone.

The flirt on his right snorted, “Arthur, huh?”

“What’s so funny, big guy?” he retorted immediately.

“Boys.” Morgana snapped, but a small smile betrayed her, and she threw a warning look to the annoying prick next to Arthur.

“I just find it silly, you know.Of all the aliases you both could’ve chosen, you ended up with Arthur and Merlin, from the legend,” the idiot laughed again, “Seriously, out of all the fake names, what a coincidence.”

Arthur was about to tell the guy off, maybe show him a thing or two about manners, when the door of Morgana’s apartment swung open and he forgot any and all of his intentions. The man that had walked in was, for lack of better words, _fucking gorgeous_. His messy curls were all over the place, each dark strand sticking out in a different direction in a “just had some amazing sex” fashion and his beard was something Arthur wanted to rub himself against right this instant. When the blue eyes looked up and met his, Arthur was ready to melt into a puddle on the floor and beg.

Of course, this happened in the span of a second and the soldier regained his composure just as quickly as he had lost it, shaking his head to dissolve all the images his brain had just supplied. The newcomer moved across the room to throw his bag on the table, his eyes never leaving Arthur.

“Who’s th—”

“Merlin, this is Arthur, our muscle for this one.”

Merlin snorted. The flirt outright laughed. Even the little one on Arthur’s left cracked a smile.

“Morgana, did you give him the name? I get that Merlin is a weird alias but come on, this is ridiculous.”

Merlin started raking through his bag, pulling out notebook after notebook, pens rolling out to every end of the table, but he didn’t seem to notice the mess he was making until he pulled out a USB, in the shape of a sword. Arthur internally rolled his eyes. The others pulled chairs in and distributed the scrawled-out notebooks amongst themselves, the tiny girl handing Arthur one he accepted defiantly.

“Alright,” Morgana slapped her hands together. “Time for introductions. As you guys know this is my brother Arthur, he’ll be our hitter this time. Arthur, to your left is Gwen, she’s our thief.”

Gwen mock bowed and giggled when she handed Arthur his phone and wallet back. He growled and accepted his possessions back, not willing to show how impressed he was she’d been able to steal them from his own back pocket without triggering him.

“To your right is Gwaine, our grifter, or ‘actor’ as he likes to call himself.”

Gwaine took Arthur’s hand and made to kiss it before Arthur ripped it out of his grasp.

“At you service, your majesty.”

Oh, Arthur was definitely going to be punching him before the heist ended.

“And finally, Merlin is our hacker, genius extraordinaire.”

Arthur’ eyes quickly settled on the man currently tapping away at his keyboard and Merlin nodded his way, almost underlining the fact that he was avoiding his sight.

“Ok, now that we’re done with formalities, we can begin. Merlin?”

In an almost theatrical move, Merlin clicked a single button on the keyboard and the screen on the wall before them lit up with pictures of a sharply dressed man, ex-police, Arthur could tell.

“Meet Lukas Greeham, current owner and principal of Bridge Hill High. Now, his records were concealed pretty damn good, almost my level good, but no such luck. He managed to erase his previous credentials and probably bribed every single journalist that wrote an article on him, but I was still able to uncover the basics.

Lukas here used to be a cop, a dirty one at that. He was involved in the drug carter down in Venezuela, but I can’t know the full extent at which he controlled the deals. He was exposed by his partner, then discredited when proof of his ‘side business’ came to light. He went underground for a while and then two years ago he re-emerged with a new identity and a shitload of money. He bought the school, and, probably through bribes and violence, gained full power over the institution. He’s using the school as a medium for the drug transportation and money laundering, he’s got everyone there wrapped around his pinky finger.

Teachers are being bribed, threatened, extorted, just whatever can keep their mouth shut, he’s doing it. I checked his finances and phone records, he’s about to perform his biggest deal yet, 750K in three weeks and in the meantime the drugs are hidden out in the school, where no one would suspect.”

Merlin took a deep breath in and paused his monologue. He looked at Morgana with what looked like warning in his eyes and then clicked another button on the keyboard. Pictures of a bloody corpse emerged on the screen. Arthur noticed at least 3 non-fatal shot wounds, cuts all over the body and the actual kill shots had left holes in the places of the victim’s eyes. Everyone but Arthur flinched at the horror starring back at them.

“He—” Merlin took a stuttering breath in— “This is Lukas’ former partner, the one who exposed him. These pictures, they—

“This is a message,” Arthur took over because he couldn’t stand seeing Merlin’s keyboard shake in his hands,” He was tortured for a long time and killed as a snitch. Shots to the eyes are a message to anyone else who dares betray Greeham, that it will be the last thing they do or see.”

The group stared at him and Merlin shot him a grateful smile before blowing out air through his teeth.

“Guys, Lukas is good,” he restarted, “We probably never would’ve even caught wind of him had it not been for the murder of his partner, because that’s the only thing that raised flags.”

“People like Lukas are all the same,” Arthur couldn’t help cutting in again, painful memories flowing through his mind. “All they care about is power, money and respect, however undeserved it is. It explains why he had to kill his ex-partner, he wanted to instill fear in everyone around him, show who’s the boss. I’m in, if only for the opportunity to bash that guy’s face in.”

Merlin took all of Arthur in, his eyes going from the worn lines on his shoes all the way up to the scar on his cheek and smirked. For once, Arthur didn’t mind being ogled.

Morgana's eyes quickly went over her brother and Merlin before clasping her hands again.

"Time for the con."

**Author's Note:**

> This is truly the crossover that no one asked for but here I am my dudes, writing away. Just for clarification for my fellow Leverage fans: Morgana is Nate, Gwen is Parker, Gwaine is Sophie, Arthur is Eliot and Merlin is Hardisson. 
> 
> Also for the sake of plot, we're pretending Arthur and Merlin are the only names that come from the Arthurian legend. All the other names, despite the fact that they are from the legend, are going to be played off as normal ones, pls and thank you.
> 
> oh, more chapters to come for sure.


End file.
